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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sued by Dov Hikind for blocking him on Twitter

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being sued for blocking a former Democratic New York state assemblyman on Twitter who is citing a similar court case against President Donald Trump.

Dov Hikind claims the Tuesday ruling from an appeals court that found Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking users on Twitter makes it unconstitutional for Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, to block him.

He wants the court to restore his access to Ocasio-Cortez’s account and prevent her from blocking him in the future. He claims the freshman congresswoman is violating the First Amendment, according to a court filing in the documents filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

“This very practice has been litigated with regard to President Donald Trump blocking individuals on Twitter, and has recently been found unconstitutional,” the lawsuit says.

Hikind posted on Twitter, “The law applies to socialists just as it does to capitalists. See ya in court, @AOC.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s office declined to comment on pending litigation.

Trump was challenged by seven individuals he blocked on Twitter, as well as the Knight First Amendment Institute, which argued the President’s personal account is an extension of his office.

The Justice Department argued the President wasn’t “wielding the power” of the federal government when he blocked certain individuals from his personal Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, and blocks users as a personal matter.

The judges on the appeals court concluded that “the First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees.”

Hikind said on the radio show Bernie & Sid on Wednesday that by blocking him, Ocasio-Cortez “cut my opportunity to be able to view her tweets, reply to them, be part of the discussion.”

“It so happens that there is a wonderful court case that makes it illegal, unconstitutional for her to do that,” he said. “She cannot block me.”